1. Field
Example embodiments of the inventive concepts relate to a method of detecting a defect of a pattern and/or modifying a layout image to compensate for the detected defects.
2. Description of the Related Art
It may be desirable to transfer a pattern formed on a mask onto a wafer through a lithography process in the same layout as the layout that was designed. In a region having a complex mask pattern or a region having a pattern with sharply changing sizes and line widths, however, the lithography process may be affected by diffraction of light in adjacent patterns. As a result, the layout of the transferred pattern may be different from the designed layout. In order to avoid this phenomenon, a region may be intentionally distorted when designing a mask in an optical proximity correction (OPC) process. However, conventional OPC processes may be inefficient and/or may not sufficiently compensate for diffracted light.